Neighbors gather for the First Annual Vista Redonda Cookie Exchange.

Lost Tabby Cat Found

If anyone has lost a large tabby cat with white paws and chest markings, contact the Axelrods.
      "The cat was extremely nervous at first but after a few tins of cat food he/she's become very affectionate and must be someone's loving pet," Wendy Axelrod said. "I'm worried about it being out in the cold even though he/she looks extremely healthy."
      If the cat is yours or you have any information please call the Axelrods at (505) 983-8476

County Reveals Plans to Bring Pavement to Neighborhood

Bond passage may mean the end to dirt roads here.

Despite a neighborhood vote of more than 70 percent against using pavement, Santa Fe County plans to use the revenue from the general obligation bond passed yesterday to pave portions of Vista Redonda roads.
According to Adam Leigland, director of public works for the county, the plan is to:

• Pave 1,300 feet of Vista Redonda from the intersection of 592  and continuing 600 feet past the stop sign.
• Pave 2,500 feet of Paseo Encantado SW  and 1,300 feet of Paseo Encantado NE beginning at the intersection.
• Engage the services of an engineering consultant to look at widening the road, drainage, and other issues.

Board member David Rule writes:
"I believe that your blog post is a bit misleading.  While I believe that it is true that 70% of our residents voted against FULL paving of all road surface - 57% did vote to accept partial paving similar to what is being proposed by the County.  The County is not proposing to pave all the VR road surfaces as your posting would seem to imply.  You may wish to clarify this.  Thanks.  Dave Rule" 

Aamodt report: Regional water system would require 1,200 homes to shut down wells

As many Vista Redonda residents do not subscribe to the New Mexican or live elsewhere much of the time, you may have missed this update on the Aamodt settlement.

     More than 1,200 nonpueblo residents of the Pojoaque Valley would have to agree to give up their private wells and hook into a proposed regional water system to make the project financially viable, according to a report presented to county commissioners on Tuesday.
     The regional water system is part of the settlement of the decades-long Aamodt water-rights litigation in the Pojoaque River Basin involving four pueblos as well as local, state and federal governments. The settlement is supposed to protect the water supplies and water rights of both pueblo and nonpueblo residents.
     The regional system would take water from the Rio Grande and deliver it throughout the valley. Officials say the system ensures drinking water supplies. Some residents continue to oppose the regional system, saying it is unnecessary and will cost the county too much money.
     The regional system would serve the pueblos of San Ildefonso, Pojoaque and Nambé and a portion of Tesuque. It also would serve many villages within the basin, such as Cuyamungue, El Rancho, Nambé and Tesuque. Read more here.

Useful Information Regarding Radiation in Our Water

When the Vista Redonda water board announced that "Vista Redonda MDWCA Has Levels of Gross Alpha Above Drinking Water Standards," some readers of the notice may have wondered what the heck is "Gross Alpha?"

Here is an explanation of alpha radiation as provided by Vermont’s department of Health.

You can read more here.

What is alpha radiation?

Alpha radiation is a type of energy released when certain radioactive elements decay or break down. For example, uranium and thorium are two radioactive elements found naturally in the earth’s crust. Over billions of years, these two elements slowly change form and produce “decay products” such as radium and radon. During this change process, energy is released. One form of this energy is alpha radiation.

Why is alpha radiation in drinking water supplies?

Alpha radiation normally exists everywhere: in the soil, in the air, and also in water. Because the earth’s bedrock contains varying amounts of radioactive elements, the amount of alpha radiation in water also varies. As the radioactive elements decay, alpha radiation continues to be released into groundwater. Groundwater is a common source of drinking water. The alpha radiation in drinking water can be in the form of dissolved minerals, or in the case of radon, as a gas.

What are the health concerns associated with alpha radiation?

There are no immediate health risks or symptoms from drinking water that contains alpha radiation. However, it may cause health problems over time. Because alpha radiation loses energy rapidly, it doesn’t pass through skin. It is not a hazard outside of the body. However, if an individual eats or drinks something containing alpha radiation or breathes it in, the radiation can be harmful. Over a long period of time, and at elevated levels, radium increases one’s risk of bone cancer and uranium increases one’s risk of kidney damage.

Well water that contains elevated levels of radioactive minerals sometimes increases the level of radon in the air inside a home. Actions like taking showers, doing laundry or running a dishwasher can release the radon into the air inside your home. Breathing air with elevated levels of radon over a lifetime increases a person‘s risk of getting lung cancer.

Letter to Community from Mary Costello

     We must choose between what we have been accustomed to and what we want to have.
     We all bought into Vista Redonda with our hearts via our checkbooks. The impact of her space, the pounding of the elements—especially in the summer—we became captivated by the view here. Vista Redonda brought us home to ourselves.
     It’s time to re-kindle the Vista Redonda community spirit. Its time to let go of factions and personal interests and work together to build a new Vista Redonda complete with good roads and great water.
     Vista Redonda is a community more than a corporation. Lets view this current impasse with the bylaws not as a speed bump that hinders our working together but as a stepping stone  to a new tomorrow for us all.
      We have to let go of our fears in order to speak from our hearts. Lets start now.
Sincerely,
Mary Costello
24B Paseo Encantado NE

Bylaws for the New Vista Redonda Boards Tabled; Community Votes in Favor of Retaining Dirt Roads; and Progress Made on Meeting Uranium Compliance Order

Annual meeting was held in Rancho Encantado's ballroom.

The existing Vista Redonda Water and Property Owners Association Board tabled its plans for a community vote on a controversial set of proposed bylaws to govern the two boards that will come into existence when split between the two organizations becomes formal. “It is obvious to the board at this point in time,” said president Sue Mize, “we need to continue to work on the bylaws until we come up with a compromise suitable to the community.”

    Instead, Mize explained at the annual community meeting held on August 21 in the ballroom of Rancho Encantado, that past president Keitha Leonard has agreed to head up a special committee. It will review complaints about and suggestion for the new bylaws and present new drafts to the board by October 1. Once the board, along with its attorney, sign off on the new bylaws they will be submitted to a vote by the community.

    The process will be put on a “fast track,” Mize said.

    Leonard is looking for volunteers to serve on the committee and asked that those interested in doing to email her.

    There was considerable confusion at the meeting regarding the planned split of the two entities, one of which is a quasi-governmental board organization that operates the mutual domestic water system serving Vista Redonda and the other is a traditional homeowners association. The two were combined many years ago based on advice of counsel. The board’s attorney now believe the two should be separate and a vote was taken at last year’s annual meeting to split the board in two.

    As the existing corporate charter still includes the homeowners association and some legal steps have not been completed, as well as bylaws have not been adopted for the new homeowners association, the authority of the current structure was unclear and community members raised questions regarding it. As of now, both operate under bylaws adopted in 2004, according to Mize, Current and newly elected officers serve on both boards.

Roads

     Also at the meeting, board member Harvey Stone presented the results of a vote taken to discern the community’s preference in regards to roads. Thirty-nine owners supported a plan to repair the roads and retain them as dirt roads. Seventeen said they favored asphalt. In other words, 70 of those voting supported retaining the dirt roads or 48 percent of eligible voters.

     But in a separate vote, with fewer participants, 64 percent of those voting said they would accept a partial pavement. In addition, those who participated in the voting said they would support donating as much as $150,000 to the county for road repair but opposed buying and donating materials. Stone said he would convey the voting results to the county.

     At least six votes were not counted because residents brought their votes to the meeting unaware the tabulation would be completed prior to the gathering.

      Leonard and Chris Brislawn volunteered to try to determine if the county has a definitive report regarding the safety of using asphalt on the hills. At one meeting a county road engineer said publicly that is less safe and on another occasion the director of public works claimed it was safer.

      Following Stone's presentation, the community voted to empower the board to negotiate with the county on how best to proceed with road repairs and agreed to provide up to $150,000 to the project should it meet with the board’s approval. The funds would come from two one-year $800 assessments on each property to be levied by the yet to be created property owners association.

      Stone and other board members reminded the audience that the decision on how the roads will be repaired is a county decision as the roads belong to it. The vote was only a means of conveying the community’s sentiment.

Budget

      Board member Peter Frank provided an overview of 2011-2012 expenses. The neighborhood spent $160,639 in operating the water system, which was within $74 of the budget. The amount included a $2,500 donation to the Tesuque Elementary School PTA. The water board ended the year with reserves of $790,985.

      The 2012-2013 water budget calls for far lower expenses, as much of the income will be redirected to the new property owners association. Frank obtained consent for a series of steps that would fund the new property owners association as well as set aside funds for the proposed contribution to the county. Essentially the water board is reducing its annual collection of money by $800 and permitting the property owners to levy it instead. Under the plan, each resident will pay a total of $2,080 for water and property owners association dues.

Water

      Board member David Rule reviewed the neighborhoods struggles to meet the new lower uranium standards. By using purging techniques and other means, samples from all but one neighborhood well have met the standard. Well 3A, which he called the “problem child,” continues to give reading above the acceptable level. He outlined several possible course of action to remedy it.

      In addition, Rule reported that the neighborhood successfully drew enough water out of four of its wells to preserve it beneficial use claim on the water. He will be providing the state water engineer with a report soon.

Other

   Ana van Schayk presented a report from the architecture committee and introduced two of four new members of the community who were in attendance at the meeting.

   The current board was reelected to serve as members of both organizations. Two new members joining the boards are Susan Rule and Philip Marineau.

   

Work on 592 to Tie Up Traffic for Two Weeks or More

Road crews, like this one, are coming soon to 592.

Starting on Monday Vista Redonda residents can expect delays getting to and from town as the New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT) begins work on State Route 592. NMDOT is going to apply chip seal to five miles of the road from the base to Chupadero. The work will take two weeks or more, depending on the weather.

     Chip seal is a road surface made by combining asphalt with aggregate like small gravel. It is one of the forms of pavement that is being considered by county officials for the Vista Redonda neighborhood roads.

     NMDOT officials said the work will be performed between the hours of 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. Asa result daytime drivers will face delays, as well as single lane closures with a flagging operation and pilot car escort. Drivers are asked to proceed through the work zone with caution, watch for signage and observe reduced speed limits. Bicycling through the work zone is discouraged due to the oily surface, loose gravel, and heavy truck traffic.

     "The last time they did this DOT lowered the speed limit from 50 to 30 and left it that way for over a year," reports Chupadero resident Paul White.

    He further warns to be careful about following other cars too closely during the work. "Even 100 feet behind another car gravel can be thrown and hit your windshield, "White said. "I was going to replace my windshield but now I'll wait."

Follow Up On County Board Meeting Testimony

Yesterday, the Vista Redonda News reported incorrectly that John Nye supported paving the hills of Paseo Encantado NE & SW. The misunderstanding of his testimony before the county commission arose because he said he supported the recommendation of the Public Works Department staff and its expertise. Instead, Nye writes that he supports “chip seal  1) from hwy 592 thru the 4 way stop intersection 2) and the hills at Paseo Encantado NE & SW, not pavement.”
    Part of the confusion is that the staff recommendations are conflicting:   
    First, Adam Leighland, director of public works, said, “The scope of the project at this point is to chip seal Vista Redonda road from its connection to the state highway to just past the four-way intersection, and to chip seal and asphalt the initial sections Paseo Encantado SW and NE (mostly chip seal but asphalting the steepest grades.)”
    Second, the project overview on page 34 of the capital needs planning materials written by the staff states, “The scope of the project entails chip sealing the surface on the roads within the subdivision totaling a distance of 4.34. These roads would be constructed with a combination of County crews and a contractor.”

Bond Issue with Money for VR Roads Heads to Voters this fall

The Santa Fe County Board of Commissioner voted unanimously to send a $65 million bond to votes this fall that includes $600,000 for roadwork in Vista Redonda. It was the only project that engendered public comment during the meeting, held Tuesday afternoon.

    John Nye testified in favor of the county staff’s plan to bring in chip seal and pavement. He said that the roads were county road and that the safety and road expertise of the county staff should be respected,

    Jamie Morris told commissioners that he supported repairs to the road but asked that the county government wait to make a decision on how to make the repairs until the community votes in August on its preferred approach.

  Adam Leighland, director of the public works department, said that the insertion of the money and plans in the bond issue are only a place holder and that he would take the community’s vote under consideration later this summer.

County Makes Plans to Pave Roads, Not Waiting to Hear Vista Redonda's Wishes

One month before Vista Redonda holds its annual meeting to discuss and vote on how best to improve the roads, the Santa Fe County Public Works Department staff is already making plans to bring chip seal and asphalt to the neighborhood. It is not waiting to hear the outcome of the planned Vista Redonda vote.
    The plan to bring in pavement is part of a department staff recommendation that the general obligation bond to be submitted to voters in November include $600,000 for Vista Redonda roads, according to Adam Leighland, department director.
 The capital budget will be presented to the County Commission at its July 31 meeting.
    “The scope of the project at this point is to chip seal Vista Redonda road from its connection to the state highway to just past the four-way intersection, and to chip seal and asphalt the initial sections Paseo Encantado SW and NE (mostly chip seal but asphalting the steepest grades),” Leighland said.
    “I say ‘at this point’ because the HOA is considering contributing funds to the project," Leighland added. "if they do, the scope will increase commensurately.”
  

Water & Roads Topics of Vista Redonda Town Hall Meeting with County Officials

County official Guerrerotiz answer a resident's question

A trio of county public works officials brought two messages to a Vista Redonda community meeting. First, the neighborhood ought to consider giving up owning and operating its own water system and instead join the small, but growing, Santa Fe County water utility. Second the neighborhood needs to send a clear signal to the county as to its priorities in regards to the roads so that public works experts can develop a plan to properly address them.
    The twin messages were delivered to about 30 Vista Redonda residents who attended a two-hour long town-hall style meeting in the home of Sue & Charles Mize at 3 PM on Monday July 16. Vista Redonda Water Board and Property Owners Association President Sue Mize chaired the meeting. Attending from the country government were Adam Leigland, Public Works Department Director, Robert Martinez, County Road Manager, and Patricio (Pego) Guerreroritz, Santa Fe Public Utilities Director.

Water
Currently the county utility provides water to 3,200 customers and it hopes to increase that number to 5,000 by 2018, according to Guerreroritz. County residents who are not on county water are served by 45 small public, private, or mutual domestic water systems such as what exists in Vista Redonda.
    Some of the systems are running into management, health, and financial issues and have turned to the county for assistance. The county has helped on an ad-hoc basis but the result has been a less than desirable “checkboard” pattern of solutions, Guerreroritz said.
    As a result, this past April, the Santa Fe County Commission approved a plan that encourages integrating existing water systems into the countywide utility. At considerable length, Guerreroritz outlined options for Vista Redonda and answered questions from the audience.
    The first option would be for Vista Redonda to join as a wholesale customer. It would continue to manage the delivery, metering, and maintenance of the water delivery system but the county would take over supplying water and maintaining the storage facility.
    The second option would call for neighborhood to turn over its water rights and water system to the county and its utility would take over all aspects of the water system from providing water to billing for it. Each resident would become a retail customer. Guerreroritz focused most of his explanation on this second option.
    Under the plan, the county would assume the responsibility for every aspect of Vista Redonda’s water system. There would be a one-time hook-up fee of $2,700 and a tiered rate structure would make it costly to use large amount of water. “The more you use the higher the rate you pay,” he said.
    The rates begin at $6.12 per month per 1,000 gallons and go as high as $17.62 per month per 1,000 gallons. On average, a Vista Redonda resident uses 9,000 gallons a month. Under this plan the resident would pay approximately $63 a month. But as many residents use the bulk of their water in the summer, those months’ bills would be considerably higher. A resident, for instance, who uses 15,000 gallons in a month would be charged $137.85.
    Board director David Rule said that according to his calculations residents who use less than the average amount of water each year would pay less under the county program and those that use more would face higher bills.
     Guerreroritz touted several advantages of switching to its water system. The county would increase the size of the water main so as to supply ample water to the fire hydrants that would be posted every 500 feet.  All the problems currently faced by Vista Redonda, such as being out of compliance on Uranium levels to replacing an aging delivery system, would become the county’s problem. It has, he said, better financial and technical abilities to cope with the problems. For instance, the county utility could make use of bond revenues.
    Guerreroritz also said the county has a considerable wealth of water rights sufficient to supply water to a large number of customers for many years to come. Residents at the meeting asked Guerreroritz a number of challenging questions about the utility’s financial strength, its ability to provide maintenance on a timely basis, how rates are set, and if it would limit water consumption.
    President Mize said that Board would take up its initial discussion of the proposed switch to county water system at its first fall meeting. Nothing has been decided and if the community were to be inclined to pursue this option it would take protracted and careful negotiations.

Roads
An equally animated discussion on the topics of roads ensued after the water presentation. County Road Manager Martinez along with Public Works Department Director Leigland answered questions as various options for the roads had been presented at a prior meeting held at the Tesuque fire station.
    However the questioning revealed some new information. Leigland announced that the county would probably change its approach to deciding which roads are to be paved. Currently the county maintains 650 miles of roads, 250 of which are paved. Under existing rules the county requires that all roads be paved that carry traffic of 600 cars a day, a measure that is referred to as average daily traffic or ADT. The new rules would maintain the 600 ADT threshold for pavement but would add a 200 ADT threshold for chip seal.
    Leigland also urged that Vista Redonda not vote on a specific solution, as the current plan dictates. Rather he asked that the neighborhood indicate or rank its desires for such things as smoother roads, less dust, better drainage, or fewer rocks. “You decide what you want and we will come up with a plan to achieve that,” said Martinez, echoing Leigland’s comments.
    Any plan, however, to pave the entire neighborhood’s road system was unlikely to be approved by the county, the officials said. In fact, Leigland said he would recommend that the commission not approve such a plan. The neighborhood does not generate sufficient traffic to justify the expense. The most likely paving program, they suggested, would only include the stretch of Vista Redonda from the entrance to the stop signs and down the two Paseo Encantado hills.
    A number of residents attending the meeting expressed concern about the safety of pavement on those hills. Unlike at the Tesuque Fire Station meeting, the officials at this meeting disagreed on the safety considerations of bringing asphalt into the neighborhood. One suggested that it was safer in inclement cold weather because better drainage could be engineered while the other said the ice would build up more easily on asphalt. But both road officials agreed that they could not guarantee that snow clearing or cinder trucks would service the roads any sooner if they were paved as they still had to concentrate on the main arteries before coming to Vista Redonda.
    Finally Leigland and Martinez said that if the county and the neighborhood could agree on a plan for the roads and Vista Redonda made a substantial financial contribution, the odds were favorable (8 on a scale of 10) that the work could be done within two or three years.
   

Recent WIldlife Sightings

Bears like this fellow live nearby.

There have been two reported sightings of bears on the Windsor Trail in the Santa Fe National Forest to the east of Vista Redonda, according to Cam Duncan and Lynn Pickard, co-chairs of the TVCA. One person reported seeing a bear below the intersection with the Chamisa Trail and the other was closer to Tesuque but still a few miles up.

Tesuque Canyon residents have noted the presence of a cougar in the area since February, Duncan and Pickard report. They spotted numerous deer and raccoon kills, some of them along the Windsor Trail before it reaches the National Forest. A cougar was also sighted in June near homes in Tesuque Meadow off of Bishops Lodge Road.  

Wildlife sightings are, of course, normal for our region. Here is a link to interesting article from the New Mexican that includes tips on avoiding conflict with our wildlife: http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Scoop/Living-with-wildlife

 

Acura MDX for Sale in Neighborhood

Not the actual car, but similar model

2009 ACURA MDX
EXCELLENT CONDITION.
ORIGINAL OWNER. GARAGED.
SILVER/EBONY. AWD. 3RD ROW.
SKI RACK. SIRIUSXM.
26K MILES. $31,999.
505-983-8476

Phone Books Are an Invitation to Burglars

Once again it's phone book season in New Mexico. This means that someone drove through Vista Redonda and tossed phone books, wrapped in white plastic, onto everyone's driveways.
   A week later many of those phone books remain where they were thrown letting would-be burglars know the house in unoccupied.
   If you are away, it would be a wise idea to ask a friend or neighbor to retrieve the phone book.

Another Vista Redonda Break In

A home on Vista Hemorsa was broken into at an undetermined time, according to the owner. A realtor showing the house, which is on the market, discovered that a small, narrow window was broken. An inspection of the premise showed that nothing was not taken.
This is the second house in Vista Redonda to have broken into this year. On February 20, a house on Paseo Encantado, NE was broken into, according to Santa Fe County Sheriff Department.

VR Resident Braniff's New Book To Be Released Monday

The publication of Vista Redonda resident Marty Braniff’s new Book Step Over Rio will be celebrated at Collected Works Bookstore Monday, March 26, at 6 PM. Many residents have already sampled the work as Braniff did a well-attended reading from the manuscript a while back.

    Inspired by her work with underprivileged and abused children, Braniff has written a novel that follows a young Guatemalan boy's triumphant odyssey to find a better life in the United States.
    At night, death squads roam the slums of Guatemala City, where no homeless child is safe. Alex Sifuentes lives in an orphanage, where his dreams of a better life are dashed when a murderous gang targets him. Forced to leave, he flees with a coyote that smuggles him into Houston, Texas.  There, Alex is indentured to a cantina owner who will use him however she pleases, but during a police raid he escapes. Alex eventually forms relationships with a hard-nosed reporter and a federal agent, both of whom are committed to ending youth sex trafficking; they convince Alex to assist with their investigation by joining a gang involved in the crime.  Thus begins another treacherous journey, this time in the United States, a place Alex once considered to be the Promised Land.
    Braniff will be presenting in conversation with Charlie Romney Brown, founder of Defining Destiny, a Woman's Literary Forum.
    If you cannot make the event, you may also order the book directly from the publisher.

Neighborhood Roads Could Be Improved as Early as 2013, Say County Officials

Improvements to the roads in Vista Redonda could come as early as 2013, according to county officials who met with about 20 neighborhood residents at the Tesuque Fire House on Thursday evening, March 15.
    In the hour and twenty-minute long meeting, the officials laid out the various road improvement options for the neighborhood, the different ways the work could be funded, and promised to provide in writing an overview of the options for residents before a planned summer time neighborhood vote.  “We would like for the community to decide what it wants,” said one of the officials.
    Additionally the county officials also promised to send repair crews out soon to fix areas along the roads where erosion has opened up gaps and to make an inspection of the roads in the company of residents.
    Attending the meeting were Daniel Mayfield, Santa Fe County Commissioner; Juan Rios, constituent services director in Mayfield’s office; Adam Leigland, County Public Works Director; Robert Martinez, County Roads Manager; Diego Gomez, County Road Engineer; various Vista Redonda Water and Property Owners Association board members; and residents.

Options
    There are four options for improving the roads in the neighborhood, according to Martinez and Gomez. They are:

• Repairing the roads with new base course, a mixture of crushed rock that is usually used under pavement.
• Putting down chip seal, a surface treatment made of asphalt and fine aggregate often similar to base course.
• Paving the roads with asphalt.
• Using a combination of approaches.

Costs
    Gomez offered some explanations of the cost and durability of each approach.

• The least expensive, but also the least durable, is to put down new base course and reshape the existing roads. This would cost between $170,000 and $180,000 per mile. He estimates that this solution would last about five years before having to be done again.
• Next in price is chip seal. This would cost about $300,000 a mile. More durable than base course, Gomez thought it could last 10 years. However, on the steep hills it might disintegrate faster.
• Asphalt is the priciest of options. It could cost more than $600,000 a mile depending on the additional engineering work required, especially as pave roads create new water erosion problems along their sides. Asphalt could last as long as thirty years if properly repaired and maintained.

Funding
    Commissioner Mayfield laid out four ways that funds could be procured for the work.
    The first would be to include the project in a future bond issue. In fact, according to Mayfield, this would be the preferred approach because road improvement is a capital expense.  When the Vista Redonda neighborhood makes a decision as to its preferred solution, Mayfield promised to put the project in the proposed bonds being readied for the fall elections. However, he warned that there are competing projects in his district as well as around the county.
    The second option would be to tap revenue from the gross receipts tax. These funds are sometimes used for capital expenses.
    The third option, Mayfield described, was to create a special assessment district comprising the residences in Vista Redonda. In such a case, the county would provide the funds for the work and each household would make payments to the county over the course of a number of years. This system was used once in 1999 to design and pave the roads in Hyde Park Estate, according to Martinez.
    Finally it is also possible that the state might fund the work from its annual outlay for capital projects. Already the county’s wish list that it submits to the state includes a $550,000 request for Vista Redonda presuming the neighborhood will provide an additional $150,000.
    In pursuing any of these options, Mayfield and Martinez agreed that a substantial financial contribution by the neighborhood to paying for the work made would increase the likelihood of state or county funding. “Anytime you can come up with matching funds, you gain some leverage,” Martinez said.
    Martinez also suggested that it would be possible to save money if the work was completed over a longer time period using county labor and if the neighborhood purchased the materials.

Disagreements
    In discussing the condition of Vista Redonda roads with residents it became clear that county officials do not share the neighborhood’s view of the state of disrepair. Bill Berra, who for years has acted as the neighborhood’s road liaison to the county, said, “Vista Redonda has never experienced good quality roads.” He and other residents described in detail the problems
    County officials who said they had toured the neighborhood seemed unconvinced of the severity of the problem. “The roads are better than 90 percent of the gravel roads in the county,” Gomez said. “Your roads are in relative good condition in comparison to other roads.”
    The problem areas are due to the fact that dirt roads are a poor choice for steep inclines, dry conditions, and around intersections. Over time dirt roads develop a washboard-like surface at such trouble spots that rattle cars and the occupants as they drive around. “Us putting more base course on the roads will not make the conditions better,” he said.
    Resident Peter Frank asked if it would possible to look at a solution that combined the various approaches. “You can definitely mix and match,” replied Martinez. In fact, he said that no matter what approach the neighborhood favors it is likely the county would pave the entrance to the neighborhood. Any road on which more than 600 vehicles travel a day must be paved according to county code, he said.
    A possible combination approach would then pave the entrance and the two steepest hills on Paseo Encantado.  But Gomez, who is a road engineer, warned that paved roads can actually be more dangerous in the winter than dirt roads, which absorb moisture and don’t thus tend to ice up as much.
    Martinez also forewarned of two changes that will occur no matter what decision is made by the neighborhood. The first is that the county is likely to install guardrails on some portions of the neighborhood roads for safety reasons. The second is that when county crews come out to make repairs, particularly to the ditches, they will remove many of the Chamisa bushes along the roads.

Paseo Encantado NE House Burglarized

Sometime between 9:30 AM and 1:00 PM, February 20, a house on Paseo Encantado, NE was broken into, according to Santa Fe County Sheriff Department. Handguns, jewelry, and electronics were stolen, the report said. Deputies are currently investigating this case. The department assigned deputy Richard Hildebrandt.
    This is the first reported break in since 2010 when there were three during that year.

Below is the report we put together we published on crime in the neighborhood on January 18, 2011.

   There have been at least three burglaries in the neighborhood in 2010. The words “at least” are used because it is not clear the Sheriff Department, which has jurisdiction, actually knows how many occurred.
  I requested that the department run a report on 2010 crimes committed on Vista Redonda Road, Paseo Encantado, and Vista Hermosa.
     The first report the department produced showed only one crime, what it listed as a “commercial burglary” on Vista Redonda Road in August. When I pointed out that the New Mexican had published two other burglaries, the department redid its database search. “I was having difficulty finding it because when the report was made there wasn’t a numerical put on the report,” explained the person in charge of records. “If you look on the occurrence location I had put 1 to 99999, that is usually how we find our data. Since the location didn’t have a numerical I found it by doing occurrence location at 0 to 99999.
"
   Still this report failed to include the most recent burglary. In late December, according to the New Mexican, a Wii system, three watches, a camera, a checkbook and a day planner were taken from a residence on Vista Redonda.
  
   So, we know of at least three burglaries in 2010 and here are the ones that I could locate for 2009:

• A laptop computer and silver and wood tray were taken from a home on Vista Redonda Road sometime between 1 and 2:30 p.m. Tuesday. The thief is thought to have entered the residence through a large dog door.  (New Mexican, November 26, 2009) 
• A laptop computer, a suitcase and jewelry were stolen Tuesday from a residence on West Paseo Encantado. (New Mexican, August 26, 2009).

Some Residents Experiencing Telephone Troubles

Several Vista Redonda residents are reporting problems with their telephones lines. One family on Paseo Encantado SW lost service for more than 24 hours. Two houses on Paseo Encantado NE have also experienced interruption in service and one has been without telephone service for a week.
If you are experiencing similar problems, post them as a comment below.